10 Years!!! (and Ballito)

On Monday it was a decade since my first transplant. What a strange feeling... I don't have the same attachment to the day that I used to, yet it's still very special. It was a big miracle moment in my life. And definitely one of the top 5 memorable days so far (and will always be... I can't see anything really taking it's place!). Lots of donor-family thoughts for both my donors happened. How do you thank someone for something like this??? On Tuesday marked 12 weeks with the new lungs!

To celebrate the sort-of lungaversary we had the family over for a braai on Sunday. On Saurday I also had the first swim with the new lungs! So many firsts happening in between remembering this week in 2008.

Tomorrow we're leaving to Ballito!!!! Yay!!!! First holiday in years! First holiday with the precious lungs! First time in Ballito! Finally getting out of JHB! Really hoping it goes well and there are no funny health niggles! Will have to have a blood test while there to check my Advagraf levels (I switched from Prograf to Advagraf yesterday due to unstable medication levels.) on Sunday. We get back on Thursday afternoon, and Friday it's a lot of Doctors and tests, but it will all be fine because I'll be relaxed and happy and breathing :-)

11 Weeks and we're going on holiday soon!

Firstly, my biopsy results were NORMAL! Thank goodness. Saw Dr yesterday, lung function exactly the same as last time. Hopefully it does still go up some more. Bloods were fine except for Tacrolimus levels (Prograf meds). It's more than double what it should be, so I'm changing to Advagraf. As a result of the high Prograf levels my kidneys weren't happy at all. I feel so sorry for them! Took a picture of my pretty x-ray on my Dr;s computer screen. There was some bad reflection but it's better than the biopsy pic I took last week. Still not a great quality image.

This past weekend was just spent with family. Adriaan is SOOOO CUTE right now, he just makes you crumble inside with love. Chrislie and I went to the Botanical Gardens/Emmarentia dam with him again on Sat, and on Sunday we all ate at my parents' house.

Exciting news.... we're going to Ballito in 9 days' time!!!! I CANNOT WAIT!!! I haven't swam in the sea since Apr 2013! IT'S TIME!!!! And the sea is nice and warm there! We're going for 6 nights. We will be staying 15m from the beach.Counting the days!

Fun in the Sun and a Biopsy

I've passed the 10 week post transplant mark, yay! Every week that goes week is a good sign! I've spent some great time outside with family this past week. My sister, dad, Ads and I went for a morning walk at Emmarentia Dam (Johannesburg Botanical Gardens) last week Friday. I didn't even get out of breath doing the uphill back to the car! It's been years since I've been able to walk in those gardens properly. Adriaan LOVED the ducks! By the end of it all he was passed out!

On Sunday we went to the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens. It was VERY hot but luckily there is a lot of shade. I haven't been there since my 30th birthday picnic that was held there 3.5 years ago. Again, the walking was a breeze!

On Monday it was time for a routine biopsy. Still waiting for the results. It went fine, just a very tiring day. I included a pic of a very bad quality x-ray taken while while I was waking up (you can see I couldn't keep my chin up). Will take a pic of a better quality x-ray when I go for a check-up again!

2018!!!!

I've been wanting to do this post earlier this week, but I've been out and about enjoying the new lungs!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! May 2018 be everything you want it to be. We had a very nice New Years Eve. Had a braai at Brendan and Marius' house. It was all very civil and we were in bed by 2am :-) We slept over there because it's just less stressful. It was great to be with some of the friends who most supported me in 2017 (unfortunately all my other close friends live far away) - not counting the LLGL girls of course. 

On the 30th of Dec we had quite an epic storm here in Joburg. We had quite a lot of hail and rain. After the storm cleared Chris and I drove up to Northcliff Hill (we stay at the bottom of the Hill) to look at the sunset. There were some spectacular views! Though I'd post a few pics here... I loved that the skies ended 2017 so dramatically.

My only resolution for 2017 was literally "to survive it". Happy to say that it worked out! In fact, I had a check-up yesterday, and lung function was GREAT, what the Dr terms a "significant increase"... my previous check-up also showed a "significant increase" so lungs couldn't be doing any better if they tried!!  X-ray beautiful (these lungs look a bit longer than the previous ones, which is pretty cool to see. Maybe that's why it feels like the breaths go sooooo deep :-) :-) :-) Bloods were better than last time, Dr not too worried about anything. Having a biopsy done on Monday (my "month 2 biopsy" in my Dr's preliminary biopsy schedule). Hopefully it goes well!

If I didn't get new lungs, I would have still been alive, albeit in a much worse condition that I am now. However for 2018 there will be some resolutions again! Here goes...

• Take part in the National Transplant Games in PE in July (and hopefully go on to qualify for the 2019 WTG).
• Travel as much as I can, including at least one overseas trip.
• Take my fitness above where it was at it's peak after my previous transplant. The years of rejection has made me value the capabilities of these lungs and what my body can do (given enough lung-power and training), even more.
• Figure our working/ LLGL/ my life and priorities.